Streaming launcher question : my characters windows

[Picpus]

<p>i noticed that on the streaming launcher, under the PLAY button there is a "my characters" small area with a white on blue head icon new character.and and this icon is not clickable.</p><p>is this a future feature of the launcher ? how can i have all my characters (and i have several...) appear in this area ?</p><p>the station launcher allowed you to launch whith a character pre selected. is it possible the steaming launcher ?</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>That function reads your character list from a file on your computer called <accountname>_characters.ini</p><p>This file is not populated until you have reached the character select screen, where it retrieves it's data.</p><p>If you already have an existing <accountname>_characters.ini and it is still not populating, deleting it and forcing it to recreate itself may remedy the situation.</p>

[Shazzie]

<p>I also have this problem- the 'My characters' box has been blank since I started playing again (on a fresh install) in November.</p><p>Deleting <span ><accountname>_characters.ini and letting it remake it has done nothing. The 'characters.ini' looks fine, all my characters are listed there, and when it remakes it (I've deleted it twice) it's always remade identical to how it was prior to deletion. The 'My characters' box remains blank, regardless.</span></p><p>This is one thing that makes me really wish I could get my hands on the original launcher. I miss having my characters list to select from prior to launching the game.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>@Shazzie</p><p>Where do you have the game installed?  You can right-click on the game icon and select open file location to be taken directly there.</p>

[Shazzie]

<p>Sorry this took a while to respond.</p><p>The game is installed at C:GamesEverquest II.</p>

[Ghandi]

<p>I have the same problem. In my game directory theres a "<accountname>_characters-de.ini". All my characters are listed there. I have deleted it some times, tried to rename it to "<accountname>_characters-us.ini" or "<accountname>_characters.ini" but <span ><span>the "My characters" box remains blank.</span></span></p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>Same problem here. Using the full-installation version of Launcher 3.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Go ahead and delete the <accountname>_characters.ini file as well as the LoginCache and LoginCache-US folders (if either does not exist, skip it).</p>

[Spritelady]

<p>I have deleted all the recommended files/folders. I logged in to the Char Select and back out and restarted EQ2.  I STILL have only "Create new character" in the My Characters box.</p><p>Windows 7 installed my game at C:/Program Data/Sony Online Entertainment/Installed games/Everquest 2</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>PM me your Station Name, I'll check on your characters specifically.</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Go ahead and delete the _characters.ini file as well as the LoginCache and LoginCache-US folders (if either does not exist, skip it).</p></blockquote><p>Followed both steps, but they changed nothing for me. I still see "My Characters" and then below it "New Character." I should mention that I play on Valor (DE).</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Prior to clicking play, what does it say on the bottom left of the LaunchPad next to Region?</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>P.S. I was, like many EU-server players, unceremoniously forced to migrate to Launcher 3 from Launcher 1 today. But clearing out cache and .ini file changes nothing, so I'm stumped.</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Prior to clicking play, what does it say on the bottom left of the LaunchPad next to Region?</p></blockquote><p>EU Deutsch.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Could you switch the region to US and update, then back to EU Deutsch? PM me your Station Name as well.</p>

[Shazzie]

<p>Deleted the <span ><accountname>_characters.ini file and the logincache-us folder (didn't have a plain logincache folder). My region is US English. The My Characters box still shows only a blank 'New Character' and nothing else.  Shall I PM you my account name as well?</span></p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Yes please.</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Could you switch the region to US and update, then back to EU Deutsch? PM me your Station Name as well.</p></blockquote><p>Switching back and forth to update fixes nothing, unfortunately. Additional suggestions? Is this new since the launch?</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>Bump. Anyone?</p>

[Shazzie]

<p>I returned to the game in November (from a long break). When I reinstalled, it gave me the streaming client, so I used that.</p><p>The My Character window has never worked for me, since I installed the game in November. So this isn't a brand new issue.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Short of logging in to the incorrect account, I cannot find a reason why you are showing a blank screen.  I've logged in to most of your accounts and saw all of your characters.</p><p>Go ahead and contact our support staff directly so we can do a bit more investigation in to your configuration.</p><p><a href="https://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=25424" target="_blank">[EQII] Contacting Tech Support</a></p>

[Kirianna1]

<p>I recently switched to the new launcher and all I get is "New Character" under the "My Characters" section as well. It works in the old launcher. I've deleted the files suggested here and it still doesn't work.</p><p>I know I'm logging into the right account. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Any other suggestions to try?</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>As of this morning LaunchPad (Launcher 3) is no longer even populating my EverQuest II directory with the <span ><span><accountname>_characters.ini. The "My Characters" window continues to show only "New Character." There is nothing to suggest that this is not a server-side issue.</span></span></p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>Is anybody working on this? I've tried to obtain an answer by contacting customer service directly, but nobody there can read English. They can't seem to understand that my character is missing only from the Launcher 3 screen, not in-game.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Haven't been able to re-produce this issue at all, trying different ways and am still in the process.</p><p>You are launching the LP3 as an admin, correct?</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Haven't been able to re-produce this issue at all, trying different ways and am still in the process.</p><p>You are launching the LP3 as an admin, correct?</p></blockquote><p>Yes, always as an administrator, and I consider myself an advanced user. Please pardon the crack about not understanding English, by the way. This has been more frustrating than most bugs associated with the game.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Can you send me the contents of your LaunchPad.ini and log?</p>

[jester0770]

<p>I run LP3 as admin, I have deleted all the files you specified. AND THE ANSWER IS....still doesn't show character on LP3.  Not sure why you can't get it to do what we are all having problems with what would you like me to PM you so that I can figure out why it doesn't work.</p>

[jester0770]

<p>I run LP3 as admin, I have deleted all the files you specified. AND THE ANSWER IS....still doesn't show character on LP3.  Not sure why you can't get it to do what we are all having problems with what would you like me to PM you so that I can figure out why it doesn't work.</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>If no solution to this problem is forthcoming, could you at least tell us how to force Launcher 3 to remember username and password at the initial log-in window? "Remember password on this computer" seems to suffer from amnesia once the computer is powered down and then rebooted. Add to this the fact that EU players have to manually add a line to their eq.ini files right now to download important shader assets and that makes three (!) critical issues plaguing Launcher 3 since last month.</p>

[DanKinney]

<p>Sorry that I'm late to this thread...</p><p>LaunchPad 3 does not populate the characters from the _characters.ini file.  It retrieves the characters from a server.</p><p>If your "remember me" is not working right, it might be time to reset the cache of your settings (the "Clear Now" button on the "Options" screen).</p><p>What are you adding to your .ini file.  That seems like a major problem.</p><p>-dan</p>

[PsiberDaemon]

<p>I have also had this problem, I always assumed that it was a "future release" thing...  I have deleted the files and folders specified, I do run as Administrator, but my EQ2 installed itself to</p><p>C:UsersPublicSony Online EntertainmentInstalled GamesEverQuest II</p><p>This was chosen for me at the time of installation, and knowing how cagey some programs can get when you put them in different paths, I let it go with that one.</p><p>Any ideas?  It'd be neat if I could just select my character from that screen.  I have 2 accounts running, both have exactly the same situation (and have deleted the character data file on both and let it re-download).</p>

[Wyndaar]

<p>Same issue here as well, deleted stuff, counted to 10, prayed a little, sacrificed some dark chocolate, watched some inspirational lawn ornaments, grilled my droid voice activated search, all the usuals to no avail. Ill keep an eye on this thread though.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>As DanKinney stated, the LaunchPad pulls this data directly from the server.  There isn't an issue to troubleshoot on the user PC side.  I will update this thread with more information when it becomes available.  </p>

[jester0770]

<p>Not sure if it matters but I do know when I was installing it, it asked for a code or something like that.  I wasn't told about that on the forum where I got the link so I just cancelled it and it installed without that.  Not sure if maybe that would mess up it's communication with the server, but figured the more info you had the better.</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p><cite>DanKinney wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sorry that I'm late to this thread...</p><p>LaunchPad 3 does not populate the characters from the _characters.ini file.  It retrieves the characters from a server.</p><p>If your "remember me" is not working right, it might be time to reset the cache of your settings (the "Clear Now" button on the "Options" screen).</p><p>What are you adding to your .ini file.  That seems like a major problem.</p><p>-dan</p></blockquote><p><em>cl_resource_address <a href="http://eq2.patch.station.sony.com/patch/eq2/assets/live/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2.patch.station.sony.com/p...q2/assets/live/</a></em></p><p>Had to fish around in a German forum to get the game started after a fresh installation.</p><p>Please, and I say this very respectfully, stop telling me (us) to clear caches, uninstall, reinstall, delete, move around, jostle, shake, simmer, or stir. I've (we've) taken all of these steps already. Launcher 3 is malfunctioning, and the issue is server-side.</p>

[Kirianna1]

<p>I'm just wondering if there's going to be a fix for this?</p>

[Lailah]

<p>I also have the Streaming launcher, but I've never seen a My Characters, or character list of any kind on the loading screen.  There is a box under the green "Play" button that says "Game Information," but as far as I remember since redownloading (and thereby getting the streamer) back in December, it has been blank.  Am I supposed to see a character list of some sort on the first screen?  Having one on the first screen that would take me directly to a charcter in-game (as the old launcher does) would be wonderful! <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Also, frequently when I hit play to go to the character select screen, I have to download.. sometimes not much.. 3 or 4 MB, but sometimes 20+ MB's.  For most people that takes a matter of seconds or minutes.  Not for slow internet <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Is it normal for me to have a chunk to download before the between hitting play and getting to the character select menu?</p><p>Just one more question.. Is there an Update Notes section on this launcher that I'm overlooking?  That was another very convenient feature on the old launcher that I miss!</p><p>Thanks for any help!</p>

[Zorbac]

<p><cite>DanKinney wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sorry that I'm late to this thread...</p><p>LaunchPad 3 does not populate the characters from the _characters.ini file.  It retrieves the characters from a server.</p><p>If your "remember me" is not working right, it might be time to reset the cache of your settings (the "Clear Now" button on the "Options" screen).</p><p>What are you adding to your .ini file.  That seems like a major problem.</p><p>-dan</p></blockquote><p>Still not working...oddly enough the old way the station launcher did it was fine..Please fix the new and "improved" launcher...thank you</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Zorbac wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>DanKinney wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sorry that I'm late to this thread...</p><p>LaunchPad 3 does not populate the characters from the _characters.ini file.  It retrieves the characters from a server.</p><p>If your "remember me" is not working right, it might be time to reset the cache of your settings (the "Clear Now" button on the "Options" screen).</p><p>What are you adding to your .ini file.  That seems like a major problem.</p><p>-dan</p></blockquote><p>Still not working...oddly enough the old way the station launcher did it was fine..Please fix the new and "improved" launcher...thank you</p></blockquote><p>We are aware of the issue itself and doing what we can to identify and eliminate the cause of the problem.  It isn't a quick and easy fix because the behavior is not reproducable.  It works for some but not all.  So it just takes a bit more time to eliminate the variables and find the absolute culprit if that makes any sense.  It doesn't work for me at home on my PC but it works just fine for my 2 roommates as a real example.</p>

[Zorbac]

<p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Zorbac wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>DanKinney wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sorry that I'm late to this thread...</p><p>LaunchPad 3 does not populate the characters from the _characters.ini file.  It retrieves the characters from a server.</p><p>If your "remember me" is not working right, it might be time to reset the cache of your settings (the "Clear Now" button on the "Options" screen).</p><p>What are you adding to your .ini file.  That seems like a major problem.</p><p>-dan</p></blockquote><p>Still not working...oddly enough the old way the station launcher did it was fine..Please fix the new and "improved" launcher...thank you</p></blockquote><p>We are aware of the issue itself and doing what we can to identify and eliminate the cause of the problem.  It isn't a quick and easy fix because the behavior is not reproducable.  It works for some but not all.  So it just takes a bit more time to eliminate the variables and find the absolute culprit if that makes any sense.  It doesn't work for me at home on my PC but it works just fine for my 2 roommates as a real example.</p></blockquote><p>I think the real issue is that we had a good launcher that is no longer being supported and now we are being forced to use a new launcher with less features and adds bugs. I don''t care to beta test any more software. I just want it to work.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Zorbac wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Zorbac wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>DanKinney wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Sorry that I'm late to this thread...</p><p>LaunchPad 3 does not populate the characters from the _characters.ini file.  It retrieves the characters from a server.</p><p>If your "remember me" is not working right, it might be time to reset the cache of your settings (the "Clear Now" button on the "Options" screen).</p><p>What are you adding to your .ini file.  That seems like a major problem.</p><p>-dan</p></blockquote><p>Still not working...oddly enough the old way the station launcher did it was fine..Please fix the new and "improved" launcher...thank you</p></blockquote><p>We are aware of the issue itself and doing what we can to identify and eliminate the cause of the problem.  It isn't a quick and easy fix because the behavior is not reproducable.  It works for some but not all.  So it just takes a bit more time to eliminate the variables and find the absolute culprit if that makes any sense.  It doesn't work for me at home on my PC but it works just fine for my 2 roommates as a real example.</p></blockquote><p>I think the real issue is that we had a good launcher that is no longer being supported and now we are being forced to use a new launcher with less features and adds bugs. I don''t care to beta test any more software. I just want it to work.</p></blockquote><p>No one is forcing you to make the transition.  Station Launcher works just fine for most people still using it and huge issues that prevent people from logging in at all will still be addressed with Station Launcher.  The Tech support department, however, can only provide minimal support with it.  </p><p>The LaunchPad works fine for most, like my roommates, so again it just takes time to find out what is causing it for you and anyone else that is having the problem, myself included.</p>

[Cu Chulainn]

<p>I'm also having the problem of the character list missing in the Launchpad.  After Thursdays patch left the Permafrost server down for hours with a message that the installed files didn't match the server manifest (I did several full file scans, no help) I downloaded and resinstalled the full 12 GB game from scratch.  It works fine, but I'm using the Launchpad now (that's what's installed, not the Station Launcher) and I don't see my characters listed in the LaunchPad.  I tried deleting my characters.ini file and the cache folders, as was proposed previously, but it didn't help.  The character list is still missing, all it says is "New Character".  My ui.log says:</p><p>Couldn't load .xmlEncountered data outside of container tags</p><p>Not sure what that means.</p><p>Regards,</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>We're still working on that particular issue.  I apologize for the inconvenience.</p>

[Kirianna1]

<p>I noticed the "My Characters" section is now gone from the streaming launcher. That's one way to "fix it" I suppose. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[jester0770]

<p>yup it's now missing from mine also...hopefully thats til they figure out a way to make it work where i can log directly into a character</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>Hah!  I can assure you it is part of the process of identifying/resolving the issue.  The feature should be back once the problems are hammered out.</p>

[Wyndaar]

<p>Mine is now entirely useless, started around the time the websites were brought down for maintenance. It just pops an error telling me I'm not connected to the internet. Thankfully the EQ2maps link still works and I was able to log in to see the MOTD informing me petitions would be affected. Might want to amend that to include issues with this launcher.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Wyndaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Mine is now entirely useless, started around the time the websites were brought down for maintenance. It just pops an error telling me I'm not connected to the internet. Thankfully the EQ2maps link still works and I was able to log in to see the MOTD informing me petitions would be affected. Might want to amend that to include issues with this launcher.</p></blockquote><p>We can't always notify you of temporary, unscheduled, outages but I do apologize for the inconvenience.</p>

[Cronqar]

<p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wyndaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Mine is now entirely useless, started around the time the websites were brought down for maintenance. It just pops an error telling me I'm not connected to the internet. Thankfully the EQ2maps link still works and I was able to log in to see the MOTD informing me petitions would be affected. Might want to amend that to include issues with this launcher.</p></blockquote><p>We can't always notify you of temporary, unscheduled, outages but I do apologize for the inconvenience.</p></blockquote><p>The streaming client was yesterday unable to load the EULA and therefore was not able to continue. Coincidentally this matched exactly the Forum maintenance outage. It is kind of laughable that SOE tells us that we are not connected to the Internet but it is actually SOE which at this moment is not connected.</p><p>I don't know where the Streaming Client pulls the info, like the EULA, from but it raises the question if the forum outage and this errormessage are really coincidental or a design fault.</p><p>And going directly over the .exe just produced a "fatal error". This affected about 50% of a Raid, some made it in after getting lucky with other Launchers, didn't think of eq2maps though^^, but the Raid was downgraded to a x2.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Cronqar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wyndaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Mine is now entirely useless, started around the time the websites were brought down for maintenance. It just pops an error telling me I'm not connected to the internet. Thankfully the EQ2maps link still works and I was able to log in to see the MOTD informing me petitions would be affected. Might want to amend that to include issues with this launcher.</p></blockquote><p>We can't always notify you of temporary, unscheduled, outages but I do apologize for the inconvenience.</p></blockquote><p>The streaming client was yesterday unable to load the EULA and therefore was not able to continue. Coincidentally this matched exactly the Forum maintenance outage. It is kind of laughable that SOE tells us that we are not connected to the Internet but it is actually SOE which at this moment is not connected.</p><p>I don't know where the Streaming Client pulls the info, like the EULA, from but it raises the question if the forum outage and this errormessage are really coincidental or a design fault.</p><p>And going directly over the .exe just produced a "fatal error". This affected about 50% of a Raid, some made it in after getting lucky with other Launchers, didn't think of eq2maps though^^, but the Raid was downgraded to a x2.</p></blockquote><p>Our client is not self aware.  If it cannot connect to our servers, it will tell you to double check your internet connection.  It's a generic message, it is not blaming you I promise <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>It was no coincidence however, we experienced a total outage yesterday and our login servers intermittently became unavailable.  We didn't have a forum outage, we had an SOE across the board outage that affected all customers across all products.  While I do apologize wholeheartedly for the interruption it was not scheduled but very necessary.</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p>"My Characters" window still broken in Launcher 3.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p><cite>Phaedrella wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>"My Characters" window still broken in Launcher 3.</p></blockquote><p>It's still removed completely as far as I know.  Replaced with a Get in the Game! message for the time being.</p>

[DanKinney]

<p>We'll take a look.  It (the character listing) may not be back up until early next week.</p><p>-dan</p>

[PsiberDaemon]

<p>ummmm...  Dan?  That window could tell me to run around naked through the men's department of a local department store with a rubber glove on my head shouting "Hi!  I'm a squid!" ...  I don't care, I'm back in Norrath!!!!  LOL.  Thanks for getting back to us though!</p>

[Phaedrella]

<p><cite>Sikaan@Butcherblock wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>ummmm...  Dan?  That window could tell me to run around naked through the men's department of a local department store with a rubber glove on my head shouting "Hi!  I'm a squid!" ...  I don't care, I'm back in Norrath!!!!  LOL.  Thanks for getting back to us though!</p></blockquote><p>Ohhhhhh boy! On the other hand, some of us are a little dismayed that the massive outage didn't provide some cover to fix a few bugs. Anyway, it'd be nice to see a fix soon for (1) the "My Characters" issue; (2) Launcher 3's refusal to remember a username or password; (3) the custom keyboard configuration bug; (4) the redundant zone window bug; and (5) the stuck mouse bug affecting users of the newest ATI Catalyst.</p><p>I don't need to tell you this, Joshua, and I know you're all working hard, but these bizarre Launcher/client bugs make your more discerning players feel like the game, similar to a house with this or that thing always going wrong, is falling apart. Then again, that was a modest pre-diluvian perception.</p>